Judge blocks Trump administration move to fine migrants

A federal judge in Boston on Monday blocked the Trump administration’s effort to fine migrants up to $1.8 million for failing to leave the U.S. after receiving their final order to deport.

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole ruled that the administration unlawfully imposed the fines and wrote that migrants in the “economically precarious position” of responding to fines could be pushed into “insolvency.”

“They face the possible garnishment of their already modest wages, loss of any vehicles and homes, federal collections lawsuits and other adverse collateral consequences,” O’Toole wrote. “If they were ultimately successful in this suit, there is no indication that simply requiring the government to vacate their fine notices would –– or even could, at that point –– make the plaintiffs whole or return the circumstances to the status quo.”

The Hill has reached out to DHS for comment.

The Clinton-appointed judge, who presided over the 2015 trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, used........

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